The present invention relates to rotary drum soil conditioners. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved soil conditioner that may be used in conjunction with a skid-steer utility vehicle.
Preparing land for construction of buildings, parking lots, and golf courses often involves extracting rocks and other debris from an upper portion of the soil profile and may involve generally planing the prepared soil profile as well. A number of implements have been prepared for those purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,546, issued to Fahrenholz Feb. 16, 1982, discloses a double roll rock windrower. The rock windrower of Fahrenholz includes a main roller and an auxiliary roller. The main roller is moved along the ground and is rotationally driven under power. The roller is disposed at an oblique angle with respect to the direction of travel, so that dislodged rocks are moved axially along the roller and laterally to the direction of movement, until the rocks are discharged at the trailing end of the roll in a windrow. The auxiliary roller is mounted above the main roller and spaced apart from the main roller. The auxiliary roller is unpowered. The auxiliary roller acts to prevent rocks from spilling over the main roller, thus making it possible to form larger windrows, while permitting dirt clods and some foreign material to pass between the main and auxiliary rollers. The auxiliary roller is mounted on arms which are pivotally mounted relative to the mounting for the main roller, thereby permitting the second roller to be spaced as desired relative to the main roller.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,639, issued to Hammarlund et al., May 14, 1985, discloses a powered landscape rake for fine grading of a landscape surface, as well as stone and debris removal therefrom. The rake is mounted to a tractor and includes a drum rotatably mounted on a drum frame. The drum frame, in turn, is mounted to a turntable assembly for allowing the drum frame to pivot about an axis generally perpendicular to the drum frame and which is located generally midway of the drum frame. A frame member is attached to the turntable and extends to a point under the tractor frame in front of the tractor front wheels. The free end of the frame member is mounted to pivot and swivel on a frame attachment member. First and second cylinders are further attached to the turntable for positioning the drum frame at any desired angle in a vertical plane to the landscape and to allow the drum frame to sway in a horizontal plane about the front frame attachment point. The drum can be rotated in either direction by a hydraulic motor. The hydraulic motor and drum provide a kicking-type action to the soil of the landscape surface to further provide a smooth, fine, finished grade for seeding and covering seed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,732, issued to Baskett Oct. 29, 1991, discloses a cylinder-type, ground-raking attachment for a bucket-equipped tractor. The ground-raking attachment includes a tubed, cylindrical rotor. The cylindrical rotor works the soil and simultaneously rakes the ground free of rocks, refuse, roots, sticks, and other debris which is then transferred to the tractor bucket by action of the rotor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,218, issued to Jones et al., Nov. 16, 1993, discloses a powered rake having a debris windrowing mechanism. The powered rake includes a main frame for coupling to a tractor, a subframe mounted for pivotal movement relative to the main frame about an upright pivot axis, a roller pivotal with the subframe at an oblique angle relative to the direction of travel, and a material control member including a blade extending along the length of the roller and presenting a gap therebetween. The subframe is preferably pivotal for presenting the roller at an oblique angle to the right or left with respect to the intended direction of travel, thereby permitting the powered rake to continuously windrow the debris in the path of the roller. The roller is rotatably mounted on a pair of downwardly and forwardly extending legs which present substantially open areas outboard the roller. These substantially open areas permit debris to pass freely outboard into a windrow without obstruction from the frame or subframe. The roller preferably presents a plurality of circumferentially spaced, radially projecting splines. The splines are spirally oriented about the longitudinal axis of the roller to present an even load on the roller as the roller rotates in engagement with the soil.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,268, issued to McPherson et al., Apr. 9, 1996, discloses a bi-directional field implement for preparing a field. The bi-directional field implement includes a ground-engaging device which allows the implement to be pushed or pulled on the field. The ground-engaging device includes a reversible roller with projections joined to an outer surface thereof to engage the ground. The projections do not extend along the complete length of the roller, but rather only a portion thereof. The implement includes reversible/removable guards for keeping the disturbed soil in front of the roller when the guards are positioned to extend in the direction of travel of the vehicle to which the implement is attached. Such guards must be manually repositioned based on the expected direction of travel.
While some or all of these implements extract and windrow rocks and other debris and plane the profile of the soil being prepared, there is a need for an implement which is mountable to a prime mover such as a skid steer type vehicle, which will extract and windrow debris from the soil profile, which will generally plane or level the soil profile as well, and which operates when being either pushed or towed. Further, there is a need for an implement in which the profiling device is moveable proximate fixed objects, such as a tree or a building to effect a desired ground profile immediately adjacent to the object. Additionally, the implement should occupy minimal space on a transport vehicle when the implement is being transported between sites. The device should be simple to construct and maintain.
The following features comprise at last some of the novel features and improvements of the soil conditioner of the present invention.
1. Flip-up bolster member. The flip-up bolster member provides for unlocking the bolster member from its normal position with the caster wheels engaged with the ground and supporting the bolster member above the drum. In such disposition, the drum is the leading element of the soil conditioner. This allows the operator to work much closer to walls and other obstructions. Additionally, the soil conditioner may be operated in a reverse direction leaving no wheel traces on the ground to present a more attractive appearance of the conditioned soil. Further, with the bolster member in the flipped-up disposition, the transportation length of the soil conditioning implement and its supporting skid steer vehicle is substantially reduced. This is an important consideration as the soil conditioner implement and skid steer vehicle are frequently trailered from job site to job site on limited length trailers.
2. Oscillating bolster. The bolster member of the present invention has a beam axle supporting the two caster wheels. The beam axle is pivotally joined to the bolster frame by a pin. The pin is aligned with a longitudinal axis of the bolster member. This allows for oscillation of the beam axle and caster wheels about the longitudinal axis of the soil conditioning implement responsive to changes in the elevation of the soil being conditioned. Such oscillation assists in maintaining the drum in even contact with the ground that is being conditioned.
3. The bolster member adjusts the height of the drum relative to the ground. In the past, the height of the bolster was adjusted by separately adjusting the height of each caster relative to the beam axle by adjusting the height of a caster pin relative to the knuckle at the end of the beam axle. This required two separate adjustments, one for each caster in order to effect a height difference of the drum relative to the ground surface. The present invention has an adjusting link. The adjusting link is pivotally coupled at a first end to the drum frame. The second end is adjustably coupled to the bolster frame. The relative length of the adjusting link may be set by varying the position on the adjusting link of two nuts that affix the adjusting link to the bolster frame. This single adjustment affixes the height of the casters relative to the drum and therefore adjusts how deeply the drum works the underlying soil.
4. More aggressive teeth. The drum of the present invention has more aggressive teeth than the prior art. The teeth have a sharper point that permits the rotating drum to rip out more deeply embedded plants during soil conditioning operations.
5. Crisscrossing tooth pattern on the drum. The tooth pattern design includes ten longitudinal rows of teeth wherein the teeth are spaced along a line parallel to the dimension L. The rows of teeth are numbered 1, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4, 5a, and 5b. The first tooth in each row as seen from the left of the drum corresponds to the numbering of the rows, e.g., row 1 has the leftmost first teeth and rows 6a, 6b have the rightmost first tooth. Rows 1 and 4 are not repeated. Rows 2a, 2b,rows 3a, 3b, rows 5a, 5b, and rows 6a, 6b are repeated, the teeth of the corresponding a and b rows being aligned radially in the R dimension. The arrangement of the rows relative to each other presents a crisscross pattern when viewed radially. During rotation of the drum, the crisscross pattern works the soil back and forth to produce an undulating pattern on the conditioned soil.
6. Drum replaceable shell. In the past, when the teeth were worn or the drum was otherwise damaged, the entire drum assembly including all the drive components had to be replaced. This is an expensive proposition, as the drum assemblies must be replaced on a fairly regular basis as a result of heavy usage. The drum assembly of the present invention has two readily separable components, an axle, including the drive components, and a cylindrical shell to which the teeth are attached. The shell may be readily removed from the axle and replaced without replacing the axle with its associated drive components.
7. Symmetrical drum. The drum is frequently operated with the longitudinal axis of the drum at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the soil conditioner implement. In such disposition, one end of the drum is typically advanced relative to the other end of the drum. When operated in a forward direction, small stones and other debris move laterally along the drum and are ejected in a windrow at the rearward end of the drum. When operated in this manner, the teeth that are proximate the forwardmost or leading end of the drum tend to wear much more quickly. By having a symmetrical drum of the present invention, the shell may simply be removed from the axle, reversed, and reinstalled on the axle. In such disposition, the teeth that were at the trailing end of the drum are now positioned proximate the leading end of the drum, replacing the worn teeth.
8. The drum assembly is easily removed. In the present invention there are no chains or sprockets coupling the motor and the drum. The motor assembly is directly coupled by means of splines to the drum assembly. Further, the motor assembly is easily removed. Once the motor assembly is removed, the first end of the drum assembly (that is engaged to the motor) is then free. Removing three additional bolts from the second end of the drum frees the second end of the drum and the drum assembly falls free of the drum frame.
9. Radial float assembly. The radial float assembly is pivotally coupled to the back plate by float pins pivotally engaged in pin receivers defined in the radial float assembly and corresponding receivers on the back plate. In this disposition, the radial float assembly is free to pivot about the float pin. It is noted that the float pin is at a certain height above the ground. The back plate is directly coupleable to the skid steer vehicle and is tiltable with respect to the skid steer vehicle. Tilting the back plate has the effect of decreasing the height that the float pin is above the ground when the back plate is tilted forward and increasing the height when the back plate is tilted rearward to a more vertical disposition. Since the casters always ride on the ground when the bolster member is in the soil engaging disposition, tilting the back plate forward (more toward the horizontal) has the effect of forcing the drum downward, thereby causing the drum to take a more aggressive bite at the ground. Thus the bite of the drum can be easily altered by an operator from the cab of the skid steer vehicle.
10. Fixed guards. Two fixed guards are projected forward relative to the drum. A fixed guard is disposed proximate either end of the drum. While the guards are removable, they are not reversible such that a guard could be positioned rearward of the drum. If the guards are utilized, they must always project forward relative to the drum.
11. Fixed deflectors. The present invention has a pair of depending fixed deflectors. A first deflector is affixed to the drum frame and is disposed slightly forward of a vertical plane passed through the drum. A second deflector is affixed to the drum frame and is disposed slightly rearward of a vertical plane passed through the drum centerline. The deflectors are preferably formed of a relatively hard rubber material and are replaceable. However, once in place, neither of the deflectors is adjustable in height relative to the position of the drum. Accordingly, the two deflectors are fixed relative to the drum.
The present invention is a soil conditioner implement designed for operation in cooperation with a supporting skid steer vehicle, the skid steer vehicle being moveable over the soil to be conditioned and having a source of hydraulic fluid under pressure for transmission to the soil conditioner implement for powering thereof and having a skid steer control system for providing a plurality of commands to the soil conditioner implement, the soil conditioner implement includes a drum member having a rotatable drum, the drum being selectively contactable with the soil to be conditioned. A bolster member is operably coupled to the drum member for supporting in part the drum member, the bolster member being shiftable between a soil engaging disposition and a flipped-up disposition, the bolster member being borne on the drum member when in the flipped-up disposition. The present invention is further a method of conditioning soil.